World’s most advanced graphics processor allows consumers to expand, accelerate and dominate their PC experience with first full support for Microsoft DirectX 11(2)

SUNNYVALE, Calif. --9/23/2009

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today launched the most powerful processor ever created1, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series graphics cards, and the world’s first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX® 11(2), the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows® 7 operating system. Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products.(3) AMD will initially release two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate the competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX® 11, making it a “must-have” consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows® 7 operating system.

“With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cars driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, AMD is changing the game, both in terms of performance and the experience,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. “As the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, an unmatched experience made possible with ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream technology harnessing open standards designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, I can say with confidence that AMD is the undisputed leader in graphics once more.”

(1). Claim of most powerful processor based on raw compute horsepower measured in FLOPS. Internal calculations show that the processor used in the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series can achieve 2.72 TeraFLOPS, more than any other known microprocessor as of September 23, 2009. FLOPS is not necessarily an indicator of leading performance in every application as AMD GPUs are designed and built to excel specifically in applications involving massively parallel calculations.
(2). The GPU in the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics has 215 billion transistors. As of September 17, 2009, this is more than any other known processor. As of September 17, 2009 the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 GPU has the highest GFLOPS/mm2 and GFLOPS/W of all known products. As of September 17, 2009, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards are the only graphics cards to fully support DirectX 11.
(3). The performance-per-dollar offered by the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series at launch is twice the performance-per-dollar offered by the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series at launch. Performance-per-dollar calculated as (theoretical compute power in Gflops) / (Launch SEP).